Plight of the Mourning Star
by Unbeautifully-Broken
Summary: He had accepted that when she left, he would not be allowed to follow. All he desired was more time. ChloeXLucifer. Oneshot. COMPLETE.


Disclaimer: Lucifer belongs to Netflix. I am not Netflix.

**A/N:** I uploaded this story twice and deleted the first one because the formatting was insane after it published! Sorry if anybody who has me on alerts got two emails! I was so excited about the season 5 renewal that I had to write. And so sad about it being the final season that this is what I wrote. I'm hoping chloexlucifer can be together in the end, and if that happens this would be a kind of bittersweet epilogue. I do not have a beta, so be gentle, kind reader! Also the title is spelled 'Mourning'-Star intentionally. ;)

-:-

Lucifer stood at the edge of the ocean, looking out at the black waves reflecting the moonlight. The thumb of his left hand spun his wedding ring around his fourth finger.

It seemed hideously unfair he'd only had forty-six years with her. Having been alive for eons, he'd barely noticed those few decades slip by. It lasted, to him, the same duration as a single breath. He remembered the last one she ever took.

Even now that she'd been gone almost ten years, he had not forgotten the moment he saw the light dimming in her eyes. The glow leaving her skin.

He still saw her occasionally, in her daughter, the little urchin who was not quite so little anymore. She'd grown up to follow in neither of her parents' footsteps; instead, she'd become a schoolteacher. He never understood that choice, but Chloe had been proud. And Beatrice still made an effort to visit him on Sundays. He was glad to see her, and even not too put out when she brought her offspring with her. The younger one had Chloe's eyes.

After their long and successful partnership with the LAPD, he'd been glad when she'd announced she was finally ready to retire. They spent their last years together traveling extensively until they'd seen everything and done everything they wanted. It was a good life.

But still, the fleeting nature of their time together left him bitter. Chloe didn't see it that way, but she couldn't understand. He'd gone thousands upon thousands of years without her, just to have her for a moment and lose her again.

Over the crashing waves he almost didn't hear the flutter of wings behind him.

"Nice night."

Lucifer looked over his shoulder, then back out to sea. The waves, the sound, the twinkling of the stars all simultaneously slowed. They didn't stop completely, but he could barely detect their movement. He couldn't tell where the water ended and the sky began.

His brother came to stand beside him.

"It is." Lucifer paused, swallowed. "Chloe would've liked it."

"Yes, she would," Amenadiel said simply. Then he lowered his voice. "She misses you."

The devil felt his heart break.

"Yes, well. The feeling is mutual." He turned his head away to give him a moment to compose himself. He normally wasn't this emotional, but tonight was special. It was their night. "Send you to tell me that, did she?" He knew she hadn't.

Amenadiel chuckled. "No, Luci. I'm just here because it's true and you need to hear it."

"Well, forgive me for not thanking you," he said sourly. "Pouring salt on my wounds tonight of all nights is uncharacteristically sadistic of you, brother. Thinking of joining us on the dark side?"

A particularly large wave finally crashed thunderously against the shore, drowning out his response. Lucifer finally turned to look at him. The angel was clearly about to deliver news that he wasn't sure would be well-received.

"Spit it out, then." The Morningstar shoved his hands in his pockets. "I haven't got all night."

Amenadiel half-smiled. "No, you haven't." Lucifer blinked, but waited for his brother to explain. "Luci, it's time." His voice had an unmistakeable edge to it. It took a moment for his meaning to sink in, but when it did, Lucifer rolled his eyes Heavenward.

"Really? _This_ is the moment?" His father didn't answer, of course. He never did. Even when he'd last spoken to Him, pleading for more time for Chloe, there'd been no sign He was listening. "Alright then. Fly me down. I've had my fill of earth anyway." He took a deep breath and let it go. It was true. The human world wasn't the same without her.

"Fly you down?" Amenadiel asked, then chuckled. "Is that what you think I'm here to do?"

Finally listening, Lucifer turned his full attention to his brother. "Aren't you?"

"No. I mean, I certainly can, if that's your wish," he boasted. "But you have a choice."

Lucifer raised an eyebrow. "Going to murder me instead? Well, it's more efficient I suppose..." He began to turn away again.

"Luci," the angel said, exasperated. He put both hands on Lucifer's shoulders and turned him to face him. "You don't have to go back to Hell. I'm here to take you _home_."

"What?" Realization dawned, prickling down his spine. "No."

"No? You don't want to—"

"I don't belong there. You'll take me and I'll never be allowed inside." Anger suddenly swelled within him. "You'd have me stand inches away from her, just to be cast out by our Father before I can even reach the gates—"

"Our Father has forgiven you, Luci," Amenadiel said with finality. "Come home."

Lucifer grimaced. Home? The Silver City hadn't been his home in so long he...but Chloe was there. Wouldn't any place where she was become his home?

He hadn't dared to hope for this. He'd accepted not long after they'd wed that she would die one day and he would not be allowed to follow. He hadn't anticipated losing his powers over time, then his immortality. The aging had been unpleasant but like everything else, he'd done it well. He'd wager he could still easily seduce the most attractive grandmother in any given nursing home, thank you very much.

The point was, their goodbye was final. He'd always known it would be. Perhaps that was why those forty-six years hadn't felt like enough, because he knew that was all they'd ever have.

"How?" He finally asked, his voice raw. This night hadn't gone at all how he'd expected.

"By choosing Chloe, you sacrificed your eternal life. You knew it was happening and still chose to remain on earth to be with her. You became mortal. A thousand lifetimes, sacrificed for one human." Amenadiel smiled softly. Proudly.

"That was purely selfish," Lucifer said dismissively. "Who wants to live forever when their reason for living is dead?"

"Then why didn't you kill yourself the minute she was gone?" The angel asked bluntly. "Wouldn't that have been easier than remaining on earth and pining after her?"

"It isn't as if it didn't cross my mind," Lucifer hissed. But then he blinked. "Trixie...she...asked me to stay." He shrugged.

"How is it selfish to only keep yourself alive so that someone else won't face one of the hardest times of their life alone?"

"She had her father."

"You are every bit as much a father to her."

Lucifer scoffed. "Lies don't become you, brother. And anyway...she doesn't need me anymore."

"Is that why you've decided to walk into the ocean tonight? Because she doesn't need you?" Amenadiel spoke very quietly. Lucifer's geriatric ears had to strain to hear him.

There was no point denying his plans though.

"Tomorrow at sunrise is ten years. That's long enough for her to have gotten over it, don't you think?" He swallowed.

"Why would I think that? You haven't." Amenadiel shrugged. "You're never going to, Luci. And I'm offering to take you to her. If that doesn't sound appealing to you, then go ahead. The water's right there. It's cold, dark. The current will have you in Hell in seconds." His nostrils flared with his passion as he willed Lucifer to listen. "But it doesn't have to be this way. You've earned this. Just trust me."

His heart was beating so hard he knew his brother could hear it. Lucifer shook his head.

"It seems they're letting anyone in nowadays."

"Not just anyone," the angel replied. "Selfless men who sacrifice everything for others—"

"That's not me," he spat, furious again. "That's Chloe." He said her name softly, unable to tarnish it with anger. "She belongs there. I don't."

"The very fact you think you don't, in spite of the eternity you gave up, in spite of the good and honest life you lived here, proves that you do."

Lucifer's chest heaved with rage, his withered hands tightening into fists. "Don't."

"I won't take you against your will. I won't do that. But trust me when I tell you our Father will welcome you with open arms—" Lucifer snorted, "—as will Chloe." Amenadiel sounded almost pleading. It was a strange sight, the broad and winged man nearly begging the elderly shadow of the former Light Bringer to come with him.

A thought occurred to Lucifer, and some of the disbelief went away.

"Was this Father's plan all along?" He said out loud to no one, voice full of dumb awe. "He...created Chloe so I'd fall for her, choose to stay with her...and live a decent life so I could return to the Silver City." He refocused his gaze on his brother, whose expression told him all he needed to know.

"Yes," he said anyway. "But he couldn't tell you, or me, or anyone that, or it wouldn't have turned out this way."

Lucifer closed his eyes. Something like hope bloomed in his chest, overtaking the ache that had been there a decade. He hadn't dared to hope before.

"Father regretted casting you out as soon as you were gone. This has been in motion before you even made your first trip back to earth. He had to wait for the right time, for you to be ready. Any sooner and you might not have—" he took a deep breath, "it might have ended badly."

Lucifer nodded silently. It probably would have. He shuddered to think of what he might have done if he'd discovered a thousand years earlier his Father had meddled and put a human on earth just for him. He'd even reacted poorly to Chloe at first. The results were nearly devastating.

"So...I've been forgiven." It was a statement, not a question. It felt unnatural on his tongue. Distasteful.

"He hopes you both are." Amenadiel gave him a knowing look. "Our Father has done this in the hope that his son, the Devil, will bestow forgiveness upon Him. The first occasion in all of time that He has ever sought it. I know you understand the significance of that."

Lucifer said nothing. His throat was drier than usual. He tried to swallow but couldn't. His entire body hurt and his chest was tight, and his soul was shouting and whispering and preparing to leave him, all at once.

Another wave crashed slowly against the damp sand. He said nothing as the entire wall of water frothed, and reached for him, and came near but never touched his feet. He watched the foamy remains dissipate, displaced sand dissolving back into the water as it retreated into the sea. The entire thing had easily taken an hour. Maybe two.

Finally, with a shuddering breath, he closed his eyes. "Is she the same?"

Is she perfect? Is she warm and real and divine in her own right? Did she still love him as wholly as she had before she'd seen Heaven? Before the beauty of a city filled with angels had thrown into doubt the happiness of her life with a man who had the face of an inhuman monster?

"She's waiting," Amenadiel said. "She's been waiting a long time."

Lucifer kept his eyes squeezed shut and shook his head. "Not as long as I waited for her."

He felt a reassuring hand clamp onto his shoulder, but neither of them spoke.

He thought of her eyes. Her eyes when he tried to ask what she desired for the first time. Her eyes when she saw his true face. Her eyes when she thought he was dead. Her eyes when she pulled away after their first kiss as husband and wife. Her eyes when he gently closed them for the last time.

Lucifer sighed.

Then the waves resumed their normal ebb and flow. The breeze blew again. Warmed his papery skin, tousled his silver hair.

He opened his eyes. He saw the ocean and the sky, endless and forever and eternity lay stretched out before him, beckoning and though he knew it had to be his failing mind, the delirium brought on by heartache and old age, he heard it. His familiar words, but her voice.

_What is it you truly desire?_

Time. It was time.

-:-


End file.
